Fusion music
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wjvocalist
Member
Hey try getting Berklee Music Jazz COmposition Book. THat will give u an idea on how to compose fusion music.
subversion
Moderator
i watched Pat Metheny perform here not too long ago. he has a pre-performance appearance which i attended & he said: there's no such thing as fusion...
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ofunkforever
New member
What aspect of fusion music would you like to compose? Is it the parts for all instruments or just drums?
Fusion as a genre itself is very big.
to analyse....break down your parts...analyse each of it and put them back together. Listen to loads and loads of jazz fusion music and play it too.
My band plays some fusion music not that hardcore stuff though. It takes me months to just learn the song and be able to play it to a convincing level.
Please do showcase when you have composed some fusion stuff
Cheers
www.youtube.com/ofunkforever
kimura
New member
Fusion is basically anything that kinda melts together.
Work on your jazz rudiments then mix it up with some other forms of music,
fuse it.
I analyze by enjoying the flow of the piece. I let it take me on a musical journey without losing a beat.
Don't get too technical though when composing ( any genres for that matter ), you must always have that 'human' factor, don't let it sound too programmed.
Remember your basics i.e. time sig, keys etc etc
Work on your jazz rudiments then mix it up with some other forms of music,
fuse it.
I analyze by enjoying the flow of the piece. I let it take me on a musical journey without losing a beat.
Don't get too technical though when composing ( any genres for that matter ), you must always have that 'human' factor, don't let it sound too programmed.
Remember your basics i.e. time sig, keys etc etc
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tangcw00
New member
looks like a good book. where to get it ?
I'm always a fan of Weather Report band, Spyro Gyra, Casiopea, Yellow Jackets
aquanaut
New member
how on earth did you get this stupid idea about composing / observing someone playing 'fusion'. this genre of music no longer exists...its really died , dead and buried and over the hill.
no one plays fusion anymore, you can't even get the records at wahts left of singapore's record stores....
stop wasting your time and try studyng of composing orchestral music or 'smooth jazz' ...like kenny G, rippingtons....
centralcatchment
New member
I dun think it's dead. It's just that the premise - that you're taking jazz in a new direction, and you're blending jazz with rock - is such an ambitious one that few people ever really live up to it. It's not easy to understand fusion - you have to understand both jazz and rock. Probably R+B as well.
But it will probably never be very popular because it's not easy to understand. At least for traditional bebop jazz you know it's the chord sequence stated in the theme, and the rest of it is the same, just instruments improvising over it. But fusion wants to take even that basic framework away.
First is "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis. You can consider both of these albums the birthplace of fusion. They were experimental at that time and extremely controversial. It was only around 10 years ago that their status as classics became secure. I only started understanding what was going on only 3 or 4 years after I started listening to them.
Why are these 2 albums important, because the people who played on them branched out and became, themselves, important people in fusion. Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter created Weather Report, one of the great fusion bands. Herbie Hancock had his Headhunters. Chick Corea had his Return to Forever. John McLaughlin had his Mahavishnu Orchestra. Keith Jarrett joined Miles Davis only after those 2 albums, but he joined up with Dave Holland who was on those 2 albums. Tony Williams, McLaughlin and Larry Young had that fusion thing with Lifetime, which predated "In a Silent Way". Larry Young's later albums also incorporated some fusion stuff.
Also crucial to understanding fusion, you need to understand the people that Miles Davis was listening to, which convinced him that he had to somehow incorporate the exciting things that were happening in rock: people who were blending rock with R+B, like Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and James Brown.
Fusion can sometimes sound like there's nothing much going on. There aren't much clues to tell you what's happening. I made the mistake of thinking that "Heavy Weather" was a piece of crap until I listened to it later and heard a lot of things I didn't hear the first time around. I dismissed "Birdland" at first because it sounded so simple and commercial. I was completely wrong. It is a work of genius precisely because it's so complex and yet it sounds so simple. That song has at least 6 or 7 different motifs, but it blends together so well you don't even realise.
There are very few rules, and because of that you don't know what to expect and you miss a lot of the structure. So fusion is great because of its capacity to surprise. But many people don't have the discipline, dun have the ideas and content, and a lot of fusion is substandard.
But it will probably never be very popular because it's not easy to understand. At least for traditional bebop jazz you know it's the chord sequence stated in the theme, and the rest of it is the same, just instruments improvising over it. But fusion wants to take even that basic framework away.
First is "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis. You can consider both of these albums the birthplace of fusion. They were experimental at that time and extremely controversial. It was only around 10 years ago that their status as classics became secure. I only started understanding what was going on only 3 or 4 years after I started listening to them.
Why are these 2 albums important, because the people who played on them branched out and became, themselves, important people in fusion. Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter created Weather Report, one of the great fusion bands. Herbie Hancock had his Headhunters. Chick Corea had his Return to Forever. John McLaughlin had his Mahavishnu Orchestra. Keith Jarrett joined Miles Davis only after those 2 albums, but he joined up with Dave Holland who was on those 2 albums. Tony Williams, McLaughlin and Larry Young had that fusion thing with Lifetime, which predated "In a Silent Way". Larry Young's later albums also incorporated some fusion stuff.
Also crucial to understanding fusion, you need to understand the people that Miles Davis was listening to, which convinced him that he had to somehow incorporate the exciting things that were happening in rock: people who were blending rock with R+B, like Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and James Brown.
Fusion can sometimes sound like there's nothing much going on. There aren't much clues to tell you what's happening. I made the mistake of thinking that "Heavy Weather" was a piece of crap until I listened to it later and heard a lot of things I didn't hear the first time around. I dismissed "Birdland" at first because it sounded so simple and commercial. I was completely wrong. It is a work of genius precisely because it's so complex and yet it sounds so simple. That song has at least 6 or 7 different motifs, but it blends together so well you don't even realise.
There are very few rules, and because of that you don't know what to expect and you miss a lot of the structure. So fusion is great because of its capacity to surprise. But many people don't have the discipline, dun have the ideas and content, and a lot of fusion is substandard.
wjvocalist
Member
Centralcatchment
Well said! The fact that fusion music is not easily appreciated since it really goes beyond music genres. Everyone have their own preferences of favorite music genres. It really takes a music lover who is totally open-minded towards music. Sometimes u do get confused that in a song, there can be so many styles happening simulateously.
Besides humans attention fades out after 3-5 mins when listening to music...leaving them their mind to wander to other places. Some fusion music pieces can be pretty long. For me, its only one thing about music in my mind. There is no such thing as rock or jazz is the best music. It's only good music who moves u emotionally or bad music that sounds really crappy. If u guys want to hear fusion music, hear this local Singapore guy out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in8svDHisDk
Well said! The fact that fusion music is not easily appreciated since it really goes beyond music genres. Everyone have their own preferences of favorite music genres. It really takes a music lover who is totally open-minded towards music. Sometimes u do get confused that in a song, there can be so many styles happening simulateously.
Besides humans attention fades out after 3-5 mins when listening to music...leaving them their mind to wander to other places. Some fusion music pieces can be pretty long. For me, its only one thing about music in my mind. There is no such thing as rock or jazz is the best music. It's only good music who moves u emotionally or bad music that sounds really crappy. If u guys want to hear fusion music, hear this local Singapore guy out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in8svDHisDk
